Venezuelan · main

Pabellón Criollo

Pabellón Criollo reads umami 7.7, richness 5.3 and sweetness 5.3 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Venezuelan main, about 4 hr 13 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 8.1 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 6.1 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 2.9 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 3.1 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 5.8 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 4.3 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.7 · Richness 5.3 · Sweetness 5.3 · Salinity 3.9 · Allium 3.9 · Earthy 2.9 · Fruity 2.7 · Sourness 2.6 · Warm Spice 2.0 · Nutty 1.5 · Herbaceous 1.3 · Bitterness 1.3 · Citrus 1.0 · Heat 0.5 · Floral 0.5

What's in it (15)

• beef flank — 1200 g
• black beans — 300 g
• long-grain white rice — 400 g
• plantains — 900 g
• onions — 320 g
• red bell peppers — 300 g
• garlic — 40 g
• roma tomatoes — 400 g
• cumin — 10 g
• onoto seed — 15 g
• oil — 68 g
• salt — 15 g
• bay leaf — 1 g
• freshly ground black pepper — 5 g
• brown sugar — 13 g

Time & effort: about 4 hr 13 min (4 hr 10 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 162.3 kcal, 9.6 g protein, 3.1 g fat, 24.9 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

1. The plate is read as a flag and as a country: white rice, black beans, shredded beef and golden fried plantain, side by side and not mixed. Add a fried egg on top and it is pabellón a caballo. Each of the four is cooked separately, which is why it is a Sunday dish.
2. Simmer the beef whole in 2 litres of water with the quartered onion, crushed garlic, bay leaves and a teaspoon of salt for 90 minutes, until a fork twists in it easily. Cool it in the broth for 20 minutes, then pull it apart along the grain into long threads with two forks or your fingers. Keep the broth.
3. Cook the beans separately from cold, covered by 5 cm of fresh water with the halved bell pepper, for 75 to 90 minutes until soft. Salt only at the end; salted early, the skins stay tough. Venezuelan caraotas are finished sweet — stir in the papelón or brown sugar in the last 10 minutes, which is the detail people from other countries find strange and Venezuelans consider non-negotiable.
4. Make the sofrito for the beef: heat 3 tbsp of oil, warm the onoto seed in it for 1 minute until the oil is deep orange and strain the seed out. Cook the diced onion and pepper for 8 minutes, add the minced garlic and cumin for 2 minutes, then the grated tomato, and reduce 10 minutes until thick.
5. Add the shredded beef and 250 ml of its broth to the sofrito and simmer 20 minutes, uncovered, until the meat has drunk the sauce and the pan is nearly dry. Season with pepper and the rest of the salt.
6. Cook the rice with the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and a little garlic in the usual way, keeping the grains separate.
7. The plantains must be black-ripe, soft to a squeeze and sweet — a yellow plantain will fry starchy and taste wrong. Slice them lengthways and fry in 300 ml of oil at 170 C for 2 minutes a side, until they are mahogany at the edges and caramelised. Drain on paper.
8. Build the plate in four quarters that touch but do not mix: rice, beans, beef and tajadas, and eat a little of each in every forkful.
9. Substitutions: skirt (falda) can stand in for the beef flank; 2 tsp achiote powder can stand in for the onoto seed; papelón can stand in for the brown sugar.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Taco Stuffed Peppers — Tex-Mex
• Poulet DG — Cameroonian
• Beef Katsu Curry — Japanese
• Bosanski Lonac (The Bosnian Pot) — Bosnian
• Mesaka'a (Egyptian Eggplant Casserole) — Egyptian

Keep reading: what umami, richness, sweetness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.